We’ve done a TON of research about going to Japan. I’d guess that over the last 3 months we’ve watched on average 8 hours a week of YouTube videos about traveling to and visiting Japan. And I’m glad we did because we picked up some helpful tips along the way.

So the currency in Japan is the Japanese Yen. The paper bills are absolutely gorgeous but we learned that more often than not we’ll be getting change in the form of coins. They have 100yen (~$1) and 500yen (~$5) in addition to smaller denominations similar to the US dollar. So we had to buy an actual coin purse so we could handle all the coins!

We’ll need to have our passports on us at all times. The Japanese authorities can stop you at any time and ask to see your resident card or passport. We will be driving go karts through the streets of Tokyo (CANNOT WAIT to share photos and videos of that with you!) so we also needed to get an International Driver’s Permit (white booklet that’s behind my passport in the picture). And then I’ll need my regular ID as well as our Suica card (reloadable card to use trains and buses) and our Japan Rail (JR) pass (special pass for foreigners to use the JR train system, including the bullet trains). I decided I’d rather use just one wallet for all of that, so I found this cute one on Amazon for $13!

We are definitely not fluent in Japanese and English is not readily spoken in Japan, so we bought a phrasebook in the event that we need help. Luckily a lot of signage (especially at the airport and train stations) will be in English and many restaurants use pictures on their menus.

You technically don’t need a special power adapter for Japan (when coming from the US) but we got one anyway because we’ve heard outlets can be scarce in smaller inns. This bad boy has 4 USB ports in it so we should be able to charge everything at once. Public WiFi is not as regularly available as it is in the United States so we ordered a pocket WiFi device. We’ll be relying on this heavily for navigation and handling Tokyo and Kyoto’s train system, so we figured it would be worth it.

Ryan and I mostly drink water so I wanted an easy water bottle to bring. This one rolls up when you’re not using it and has a button to inflate it when you need it! Plus, it’s blue. 🤗

As I’m writing we’re sitting at Orlando International Airport. We have a connecting flight in San Francisco. So that’s 6 hours of flight time to California and then another 11 hours to Tokyo. I’m armed with downloaded episodes of Parks and Rec, the newest Sophie Kinsella novel and Zyquil. Wish me luck!